The Science of Broken Elevators
by cherrygurl1225
Summary: Birthday gift fic for amtrak12. Britta enlists Jeff's help when one of her neighbors needs help getting down the stairs because the elevator in her apartment complex is broken.


**Community: The Science of Broken Elevators**

The knock at Britta Perry's door alarms her. She's already awake and getting ready for a new semester at Greendale Community College, but she usually doesn't expect visitors this early in the morning. Sometimes, it's her landlord telling her she was late on a payment or, occasionally, one of the elderly ladies a few doors down in her complex bringing her a muffin basket.

_Really, I don't need any more muffin baskets._

"Coming!" Britta exclaims, rushing to the door. She opens the door to find her neighbor, Sarah, a Screenwriting student at Greendale University, sitting in her power wheelchair with her arms folded across her chest.

"Hey, Sarah, what's up? Is something wrong?"

"The elevator is broken again," she says, tucking some of her brown hair behind her ear. "I need to get to my internship in a few hours and the elevator isn't working. I also have a script workshop tonight, which I really can't afford to miss."

"Have you tried calling maintenance?"

"Yeah," Sarah replies. "But they're not open until noon. I need to get to my internship before noon!"

Britta sighs. "Lovely."

"Do you mind if I come in?"

Britta steps aside as Sarah maneuvers her chair inside Britta's apartment.

"You're lucky your chair can get through my door," Britta comments.

"Yeah, but thank God for that. You always have bomb ass parties with me and Allie. I'd rather not throw parties at my place, even if it is a little bigger."

"Have you called Allie? Maybe she knows someone who can help you or-…"

"I called her. None of her guy friends are available and her boyfriend is out of state on some sports tournament. But I told her she could come here and we'll figure something out. Is that cool?"

Britta smiles. "Fine by me. What do you usually do when the elevator is broken? I know this isn't the first time this has happened to you."

"Usually I can get one of my guy friends or her guy friends or Allie's boyfriend to help carry me down the stairs, but since none of them are available, I think I'm screwed."

"Hold that thought," Britta tells her. She goes into her bedroom to get her cell phone. Her phone is pressed against her ear by the time she's back in the living room area of her apartment with Sarah. "Come on, Jeff, pick up your damn phone!" Britta whispers to herself.

He answers on the fourth ring. "What do you need, Britta? 'Cause if you want me to cat sit Mr. Meowskers tonight, it's not gonna happen. But I know that Troy would be more than happy to do that."

"Why, does someone have another catch to date?"

"You wish!" Jeff retorts.

"No, actually, I need your help. As soon as possible. It's my neighbor. She uses a wheelchair and the elevator in our apartment complex is broken… again. Do you think you can carry her down the stairs?"

"Yeah, I'll be right there." He hangs up.

"Well, that was easier than expected," Britta says, not realizing she's speaking aloud. Off Sarah's look, she catches herself in an attempt to recover. "Oh, I mean…"

"What is? Who did you call?"

"Just my friend Jeff. He should be here within a half an hour or so. That is, if he doesn't stop on his way over here to get his car waxed."

"Mr. Thinks-He's-Too-Cool-To-Care-But-Probably-Still-Has-Feelings-For-You Jeff?" Sarah inquires with an innocent look in her eyes, leaning forward in her chair.

"He does _not_-…"

There's another knock at the door before Britta can finish her sentence.

"Saved by the knock!" she declares as she rushes over to answer it. She opens it to find Allie, a Biomedical Engineering student at Greendale University and friend of Sarah's, standing in the doorway. "Hey, Allie, come in!"

"Ugh, I have a Stats exam tonight and a Genetics exam tomorrow! I am _so_ screwed!"

"Not screwed," Sarah replies. "Just one for the melodramatics. Either that or someone's been pulling an all-nighter marathoning episodes of _The Big Bang Theory_!"

"Haha, very funny," Allie says, rolling her eyes. "Wasn't it you who just spent a whole night marathoning re-runs of _Tru Calling_?"

"As an aspiring screenwriter, I'm supposed to watch lots of TV! It's part of my future job description. My screenplays do not write themselves!"

"Guys!" Britta interrupts before Sarah has a chance to respond. "Can't we focus on what's important here? We need to figure how to get Sarah to her internship and then I need to get my ass to class."

Sarah and Allie both mutter "sorry" and look at Britta expectantly.

"My friend Jeff is coming. He'll be able-…"

"Oh, Mr. I-Use-Way-Too-Much-Hair-Product-But-I-Don't-Give-A-Crap-Because-It-Makes-Me-Look-Awesome is coming to rescue Sarah and free her of her perils with the elevator? This I gotta see!" Amber grins.

"Hey, just…" Britta starts. Off Allie and Sarah's looks of intrigue, she promptly gives up. "You know what? Nevermind."

* * *

Jeff arrives at Britta's apartment forty-five minutes later.

"You're late, but I wouldn't expect anything less," Britta remarks as Jeff brushes past her through her door. "Did you give another hot blonde your number at the carwash?"

"Close, but no. It was a brunette at a coffee shop, but I doubt she'll call me."

"On the next episode of _Jeff Winger: Douchebag Extraordinaire…"_

"Shut up." He then notices Sarah and Allie looking at him, clearly intrigued. "You'll have to excuse us, ladies, Britta and I…"

"Oh, we _know,_" Allie smirks. "Carry on."

The two girls laugh as Jeff gives Britta a peculiar look. Britta just smiles; her smile is dripping in saccharin sweetness.

"Britta, can we talk alone for a sec? Like, in your kitchen?"

"Sure."

Britta and Jeff go into Britta's kitchen, leaving the two girls to laugh some more and chat amongst themselves. Jeff turns to her.

"You owe me," he says plainly.

"I beg your _unbelievable_ pardon?"

"Oh, you heard me, Britta. You owe me. Simple. I help your neighbor friend. You… you give me a little something in return."

"What, a boost to your pretentious ego?"

"Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of…"

And suddenly, Jeff pulls Britta to him and his lips are on hers. This surprises her, but after a few seconds she finds herself giving in. Her arms are wrapped around his neck and her body is dangerously close to his own. His fingers are tangled in her blonde curls and she lets out a soft moan, pulling back slightly and gazing into his eyes.

Jeff gazes down at her, looking deep into her eyes and smirking. "Okay, we're even."

Britta, still dazed from the kiss, pulls out of his embrace, gathering her composure again. Realization over what has just occurred dawns on her. She sighs angrily.

"Jerk," she spits out, dashing out of the kitchen before Jeff has a chance to respond.

* * *

Despite Britta's annoyance about Jeff's unexpected kiss, he still helps Sarah. She has a manual wheelchair she keeps in her apartment in case emergencies like this arise and she goes back to her apartment to get it before Jeff carries her down the stairs. Allie and Britta manage to carry Sarah's manual wheelchair down the stairs. It's surprisingly not as heavy as Britta thinks it would be and she makes a mental note to raise hell in the maintenance office later.

Jeff doesn't stick around after helping Sarah, though, saying he wants to get to Greendale Community College ahead of the rest of the study group. Britta laughs it off. That'll be the day.

"Your _friend_ is nice," Sarah tells Britta. "Charming and adorable, too."

"Yeah, I'll keep him around for one more day."

Allie and Sarah giggle again.

"Well, I better get to the library, so I can study for my Stats exam. Those problem sets won't solve themselves unfortunately," Allie says.

"See ya later, Allie," Sarah replies. "Oh, hey, why don't you, me and Britta have a pizza party this weekend? We can watch romantic comedies, too. It'll be like a girls night in."

"Sounds good to me!" Britta agrees. Allie nods enthusiastically. "I'm down. Par-tay!"

"Just us girls! No guys who use too much hair product or drive a Lexus allowed!" Sarah chimes in.

After the three girls finish making their plans, they each go their separate ways. But before Britta heads back up the flight of stairs to her apartment, she looks back in the directions that each of the girls has gone.

And she smiles.

_Fin._

**Author's Note: I've had the basic idea for this fic (Britta and her neighbors) in my head for months now and in my conversations with my friend Amber (amtrak12) on Twitter, I decided to put the two of us as Britta's neighbors since we both are huge Britta fans. I'm the Sarah character and she's the Allie character. I really just wanted to focus on Britta and her relationship with her neighbor friends, but Jeff did inevitably slip in there cuz he kinda had to. But Britta and Jeff wasn't my main focus for this story. Anyway…**

**Happy Birthday, Amber! Hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it! **


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